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What to do when help is NOT on the wayThu, 27 Oct 2016 00:53:50 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.5.9http://www.thesurvivaldoctor.comhttp://www.thesurvivaldoctor.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Survival-Doctor-logo-Camo-small.jpgThe Survival Doctor logoHurricane-Survival Reviewhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thesurvivaldoctor/feed/~3/tO13VJFopV4/
http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/10/06/hurricane-survival-review/#respondThu, 06 Oct 2016 19:03:11 +0000http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/?p=12171

Hurricane Matthew, with clouds over Cuba, the Bahamas and Florida, on October 6 at 1 p.m. EDT. Credits: NASA/NOAA GOES Project.

With Hurricane Matthew on its way to the United States East Coast, I thought it would be a good time to go back and review some of my posts on what to do during such a disaster.

Many injuries, such as cuts, sprains, broken bones, infections—even trash in the eye—are common no matter the disaster. You can search for information about those and more by clicking on the magnifying glass near the top right corner of this page.

]]>http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/10/06/hurricane-survival-review/feed/0http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/10/06/hurricane-survival-review/3 Reasons I Don’t Teach Surgery—Even to Survivalistshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thesurvivaldoctor/feed/~3/mLGlFPAl5SI/
http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/08/09/surgery/#commentsTue, 09 Aug 2016 10:00:19 +0000http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/?p=12157Everyone deserves the chance to survive. If you’re a longtime reader, you know that motto propels my mission. Much of the information I share here and in my books and training course is normally reserved for trained medical personnel. But I believe you have a right to know it.

Even so, sometimes I get complaints about what I don’t teach—namely major surgery. The complaints usually go something like, “How can you claim to give information on when help is NOT on the way without providing such?”

Here’s my answer: There is a limit to how much help a layperson—sometimes even a surgeon—can give. I cannot responsibly teach most surgeries. Here’s why.

Well, sure, anyone could slice open the abdomen, but that’s just the first step in a complicated process.

After your incision, you’d find that you’d caused additional bleeding not just in the skin but in the muscles and fat, which also contain blood vessels. If you hit a larger vessel, there would be a lot of bleeding.

Let’s say you knew that would happen and planned for it: You recruited someone to help—to apply direct pressure to the bleeding area—and you had the ability to clamp or suture the vessels bleeding the most. Great.

But as soon as you got into the abdominal cavity, you’d still find one big pool of blood from the original internal bleeding, with many feet of intestines stuffed in it.

Somehow, you’d have to keep the abdominal wall open (which can be a lot thicker than you’d think, due to fat), wade through the intestines and blood, and basically blindly find the often tiny source of bleeding.

2. Cutting, Closing—and Surprise!

If, instead of internal bleeding, you were concerned about something like an appendix or gallbladder—another scenario readers often ask about—you may not encounter as much blood, but you’d still have to keep the wall open, wade through those intestines, and cut out the problem.

As I explain in The Survival Doctor’s Complete Handbook (which tells how organs can be palpated—pressed on externally—to find signs of appendicitis and such), even if you know anatomy, an appendix or gallbladder can hide. It’s often not in the place the textbooks show.

If you do find the problematic organ but you cut too much or too little, you could cause an intestinal leak. Or you could nick an artery.

Oh, and it’s not uncommon for even surgeons to think one thing is causing the problem and, during surgery, find out the culprit is totally different, requiring different treatment.

But let’s assume your diagnosis was correct. You’ve addressed the problem. Next comes suturing. You must close:

The cut from where you removed the organ. You’d have to suture the thin bowel wall but not poke the needle all the way through it, exposing the bowel contents.

The big hole in the abdominal wall. For the body to heal properly, you’d have to suture the wall back layer by layer: first the thin membrane (called the peritoneal wall), then muscle, then fat and skin.

3. Infection

This operation would likely not be sterile. In fact, in surgical terms, it would be downright dirty. Severe internal infection would be certain, and IV antibiotics would be a must for survival.

Likely Surgical Outcome

In summary, the chance of anyone surviving an abdominal operation done in field, with minimal instruments, is slim. Throw in the fact that someone with zero experience is performing the surgery, and the chance is very close to none.

Surgery to the chest would be even worse because you’d automatically collapse a lung or two and very likely nick a big artery.

There’s not usually much need for lifesaving surgery on arms and legs, other than amputation. The question on amputations would be when to perform one, and the answer would be dicey. In addition, trained surgeons might try to repair a muscle or nerve. We can talk more about amputations in another post.

What Happens With No Surgery

Surgeons go through four years of medical school and five years of extra training. They do multiple, multiple surgeries with an experienced surgeon showing them and being around in case something goes wrong.

Yet even a trained surgeon may opt not to perform surgery in a survival situation. The decision would depend on the surgeon and location. They’d need a clean place, and they’d need at least some local anesthetic or ether for pain.

Yes, the chance of survival with a ruptured appendix or severe internal bleeding is dire, but I submit it’s better than with amateur surgery.

With the bleeding, there is a prayer, however slim, that the vessel might clot off. For someone who has never performed surgery to try to stop it surgically, the chance of survival is very close to zero (in my opinion).

In the instance of appendicitis, the chances are a little better. Sometimes the body walls off the area of infection and it doesn’t spread. Or, as I inferred earlier, the diagnosis could be wrong. Maybe all they have is a bad stomachache.

I would never, ever recommended delaying expert evaluation and treatment, but if that’s absolutely impossible, I think watching and waiting, while providing appropriate supportive care (which The Survival Doctor’s Complete Handbook covers for these issues and others), along with antibiotics if available, is a better option than having an amateur do major surgery.

What About Those Surgery Survival Stories?

When my father was young, the local country doctor performed an appendectomy on him on my dad’s kitchen table. This was relatively common back then. But the doctor had experience doing such things. Even then, my father was lucky to survive.

And it is true that there have been some successful instances of people performing, and surviving, self surgery. Take the case of Dr. Leonid Rogozov. He was stranded at a base camp in Antarctica and performed an appendectomy on himself. But even then, he had basic medical equipment, along with assistants to hand him what he needed. In addition, he was in a fairly clean environment. And he was a surgeon who had performed appendectomies before, according to BBC News. Still, he must have had quite the pain tolerance and ability to focus. More than I, for sure.

One of the things people forget about surgery is the fact that there are often unforeseen complications: a nick in the artery, a puncture in the intestine, anatomy in the wrong place, some unexpected problem such as an abscess or cancer. So not only do you need a detailed knowledge of anatomy and of how to perform surgery, but you need to know what to do if something goes wrong. There’s a reason surgeons train for years—much of that hands-on.

So instead of worrying about the fact that you couldn’t perform surgery in a survival situation, I suggest doubling down on learning what you can do. There’s plenty of that to study.

]]>http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/08/09/surgery/feed/25http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/08/09/surgery/Hey, Hollywood, Leave the Bullet Alone!http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thesurvivaldoctor/feed/~3/cgGzyNDl-qU/
http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/08/03/hollywood-bullet/#commentsWed, 03 Aug 2016 10:00:38 +0000http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/?p=12150At one point in the movie comedy The Green Hornet (2011), the Hornet (Seth Rogen) gets shot in the shoulder. He can’t go to the hospital or his identity will be found out. So, in true Hollywood style, he clears off the kitchen table and tells his friends to get a spatula and a knife. The spatula is to bite down on; the knife is to remove the bullet.

One touch from the knife and he yelps in pain and tells his friends to take him to the hospital instead.

That’s one of the more realistic on-screen surgeries I’ve seen. But if you’re dealing with a gunshot wound in real life, here’s what the movies never tell you: Most of the time, the bullet doesn’t really matter.

Why Removing the Bullet Is Usually a Horrible Idea

In Hollywood, when a hero gets shot, everyone obsesses about the bullet. It’s their main focus. Once it’s out, everything’s fine.

In real life, fuggedaboutit. The bullet has already done its damage. It’s true that leaving it in might increase the risk of infection, but unless you see the bullet directly or know you feel it, and it comes out very easily, you’re going to cause far more damage poking and prodding—and still very likely not get it. Here are the problems you’ll probably face:

You’ll not be sure the exact direction the bullet entered the body or how far it went, so you’ll not know where it is.

If you poke it, it will move.

If you use an instrument to try to remove it, the bullet will just slip out of your grasp, going even deeper.

If the bullet has damaged, say, a blood vessel, getting it out is not going to make the vessel better, but poking may definitely make it worse.

If the bullet has gone beyond the flesh and has entered the abdomen, chest, or skull, you obviously can’t dig that out.

The fact is, many people live a long, productive life with one or more bullets or pieces of shrapnel embedded in their flesh.

“But It’s Just a Shoulder Wound!”

While I’m at it, here’s another problem I have with movie gunshot scenes. The good guy gets shot in the shoulder, and everyone breathes a sigh of relief. It’s just one of those flesh wounds.

But let me till you, there are huge blood vessels around the shoulder and collarbone. If they’re not damaged, fine. But if they are, that’s life-threatening. Bleeding can be severe.

In the absence of professional medical help, the only thing you can do is apply direct pressure to try to stop the bleeding or maybe even stick a finger deep in the wound: If you feel a pulse or throbbing press on that area.

You could try some QuikClot or Celox if you have it, although those quick-clotting agents don’t work if the blood is flowing rapidly. So pressure, then QuikClot.

Again, don’t dig for the bullet. Yes, the person may die, but digging will only increase the odds of that.

Does any of this surprise you, or were you already wise to Hollywood’s shenanigans?

Next week, I’ll talk about a related question I get asked often: Will I teach you how to perform surgery? Subscribe below to be notified when that post is published.

This is part 3 of my gunshot wound series. See the previous installments here:

]]>http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/08/03/hollywood-bullet/feed/6http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/08/03/hollywood-bullet/How to Treat Gunshot Wounds When No Help Is Cominghttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thesurvivaldoctor/feed/~3/kqsYSSiLwY8/
http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/07/27/how-to-treat-gunshot-wounds/#commentsWed, 27 Jul 2016 10:00:25 +0000http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/?p=12140Given what’s been happening in the world lately, we’ve been talking about what to do when you or someone near you is injured through unexpected violence. Two weeks ago, I told you what I think are the most important immediate things to do for a gunshot victim until expert help arrives.

That post assumes help is coming right away. But what if emergency responders are delayed? For example, what if you’re caught in a riot and there’s so much chaos that the roads are completely blocked?

First Steps: Fight Early Threats to Life

Keep the person warm. Hypothermia can be an overlooked danger. Unless it’s hot where you are or the person is well clothed and dry, cover them with a blanket or coat.

Keep the person flat (in most cases). Bleeding can cause blood pressure to plummet (that’s called going into shock), which can dangerously reduce blood flow to the brain. I’d have the victim lie flat on the ground so blood could hopefully still circulate to the brain effectively. If the person were conscious and I was sure there was no neck or back trauma, I might put something under the head for comfort.

Caveat: One time you might not want the person to lie down is if the gunshot is to the head and lying down causes the bleeding to choke the person.

Ensure a good airway. If the person were unconscious, I might place them on their side to keep the tongue from blocking the airway. If placing on the side were impossible or I suspected a neck injury, I’d do the jaw jut: I’d place my fingers behind each side of the person’s jaw and jut it forward, without moving the head. Someone would have to hold it that way. (Or, of course if you have an oropharyngeal or nasopharyngeal airway, now would be a good time to use it; learn more about these devices and the jaw jut in my training course.) Some experts have suggested, if nothing else, pulling the tongue forward and safety pinning it to the lower lip.

Look for more wounds. After quickly dealing with any bleeding as described in the previous blog post on gunshot wounds, I’d check every inch of the person’s body for further wounds. Remember, once a bullet enters the body it often doesn’t follow a straight line. It may ricochet off bones. The entrance wound may be in the abdomen and come out the back of the upper chest. Or vice versa. Keep the person warm while checking for the wounds.

These are general tips. Click here for more specifics on treating a gunshot wound to the head, abdomen, chest, or extremities.

Next Steps: Prevent Infection

When you’ve finished addressing the immediate life threatening problems, then you can work on preventing infection. In most cases, you won’t need to worry about this unless help is at least a few hours away.

Give oral antibiotics if you have them and the person is conscious. Bullet wounds are dirty wounds. (I go into more detail about choosing and using antibiotics in The Survival Doctor’s Complete Handbook.) Of course, you could give antibiotics through shots or IV if you have them available and know how.

2 Things Not to Do

Don’t close the wounds. Even if you know how to close a wound with sutures or tape, remember that you shouldn’t close puncture wounds, including bullet wounds, for two reasons: Bleeding could start up again without you knowing it, and closing a puncture or gaping wound just makes a perfect place for bacteria to grow and cause a bad infection.

Don’t discount flesh wounds. If it’s only a flesh wound, great. But still, be careful. From what I can tell in the movies a “flesh wound” is when a bullet doesn’t go into the abdominal, chest, or head cavity. It just goes in, say, one side of an arm or leg and out the other side. Well, that may be good sometimes, but there are blood vessels and bones in those areas. So beware. Look for bleeding, quick swelling (which may be from bleeding), or signs of a broken bone, and treat according.

What about removing the bullet or performing emergency surgery? I’ll cover those topics in future posts. You may be surprised at my advice. (Subscribe below to be notified when those are published.)

What about you? Have you ever been in such a situation as I’ve described?

]]>http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/07/27/how-to-treat-gunshot-wounds/feed/5http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/07/27/how-to-treat-gunshot-wounds/How You Could Save Lives in a Mass Casualty Situationhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thesurvivaldoctor/feed/~3/SdI1WQSUsTg/
http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/07/20/mass-casualty-plan/#commentsWed, 20 Jul 2016 10:00:43 +0000http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/?p=12127Note: Due to recent events, part 2 of my gunshot wounds treatment series is postponed to next week. (See part 1 here.)

Click the photo to enlarge. This is a START adult triage algorithm from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (If you don’t have medical training, the chart will make more sense if you’ve taken my course or read my latest book.)

For the past week, mass tragedies and mayhem have dominated U.S. news. In Dallas, a man shot and killed five police officers and injured seven more during a protest. In Nice, France, a man murdered more than 80 people when he plowed through a crowd in a transport truck. And in Turkey, hundreds were reportedly injured or killed during an attempted coup.

What if you were caught in a mass casualty situation? What if you weren’t injured but dozens around you were? Would you know what to do? How to help? Where to start?

Here’s a simple four-point plan to have in place anytime you’re in a crowd.

The 4 T’s of Mass Casualty Treatment

Whether it’s from gunshots, a truck driving through a crowd, a tornado, or an earthquake, multiple-trauma situations initially result in chaos and panic. But within that, there are opportunities for uninjured survivors to save lives of the injured.

In a nutshell, here are my four T’s for helping to save lives in a multi-trauma situation:

Take cover.You can’t help others if you’re killed. So make reasonably sure the imminent danger to you has passed before venturing out.

Take action. Don’t wait for someone else. Just do it. Many people freeze (through no fault of their own; it’s the way the brain works sometimes). Others don’t have the knowledge needed to help. Still others are overwhelmed and don’t know where to start or can’t calm down enough to help. Emergency responders are likely on their way, but they may be delayed or blocked.

Triage. Find a person you think you can best help. The START system can help you decide (see below), or just choose the closest person.

How to Triage: The START System

If there are a lot of people with severe injuries and you can’t help them all, you may have make some hard decisions about who can use your help the most. Many first responder teams go by the START system. It stands for Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment. It’s not perfect, but it can give you guidance to avoid the paralyzing enormity of it all.

The START system technically involves using colored tags to triage (sort) people according to how injured they are. You probably won’t have tags, but the general guidelines can help you decide who you should spend your main time on. The categories are:

Black: Are so severely injured they’re unlikely to survive no matter the treatment

Red: Have life-threatening injuries that need immediate treatment if they’re going to survive

Yellow: Have injuries but can likely wait for treatment until the red group is treated and transported

Green: Have fairly minor injuries—sometimes called the walking wounded

For instance, here’s a situation you might face: A person shows no sign of life. You know that the treatment is immediate chest compressions until expert help takes over. But do you spend your time on that person, who is very unlikely to survive, or do you help the other one who will die if her bleeding is not stopped? Or the one with severe difficulty breathing?

The START system can help you make those horrible choices in a more objective manner. At the least, it will give you a place to … start. In the end, it’s a judgment call. But please, unless you are hurt or in danger, help someone. If you do, in my opinion, no one has the right to judge that you were wrong.

And then there’s the walking wounded. If they’re alert enough, you might even be able to get them to assist in saving the others.

Questions? Does this make sense?

If you’ve experienced treating victims on-site in a multiple-trauma situation, please share your experience to help other readers.

]]>http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/07/20/mass-casualty-plan/feed/5http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/07/20/mass-casualty-plan/Gunshot Wounds: What to Do If You or Someone Near You Gets Shothttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thesurvivaldoctor/feed/~3/m6Rs09Sk6N0/
http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/07/13/gunshot-wounds-treatment/#commentsWed, 13 Jul 2016 10:00:47 +0000http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/?p=12116Here in the United States, shootings are on most of our minds right now. Orlando, Dallas, Baton Rouge, Falcon Heights … the list goes on. Many people have died. And many more are trying to come up with methods to prevent future shootings.

But, in this flurry of massive media coverage, I haven’t seen anyone explain what to do if you or someone nearby is shot. There are solid steps you can take—ones that not everyone knows—that could save a shooting victim’s life.

These steps are essential whether first responders are on their way or not. But we’re seeing right now that there’s a very real chance they could be delayed. When protests block streets, which some have done lately, emergency personnel may not be able to get to you as quickly as normal. Or, if you’re in the middle of an active shooter situation, first responders may have no choice but to wait it out.

It’s not always possible to save a shooting victim’s life. Even experts with the best training and equipment often have patients die. But if you do what you can, at least you’ve helped give the person a fighting chance.

Here are some steps you can take to help save a shooting victim’s life.

Step One: Act

Ensure your safety. If there is a chance of more shooting, you must protect yourself. If you get shot, you become another victim unable to help anyone.

Take action. Never assume someone else is going to step in. Do what you can. If someone else has taken immediate charge, ask what you can do.

Call 911. Recruit someone else to do this if possible. Then have them come help you take care of the victim.

Step Two: Treat

The three immediate problems to look for are usually, in order of importance: no signs of life, heavy bleeding and a collapsing lung.

Remember, HIV and hepatitis may be caught from blood. So you and your helpers should use gloves or plastic or anything that can be a barrier between your skin and the blood.

Look for signs of life. If there are none, begin chest compressions. Start them as quickly as possible but again, only if there are no signs of life, such as breathing. Note: If the person is in a car, remember that you have to get them onto the ground to give proper chest compressions.

Have your helper put pressure on any areas of bleeding. (Or you can do this if you’re not performing chest compressions.) In addition to an entrance wound there may or may not be one or more exit wounds, and they’re not always where you think they should be.

Apply a tourniquet if the wound is on an extremity (arm, leg, hand or foot), bleeding is profuse, and it’s not slowing with direct pressure.

If the experts still haven’t arrived, plug any gunshot holes. Stuff them with a small wad of cloth or a tampon if available. Not only will that stop some of the bleeding, but if the bullet has injured and collapsed a lung, this step could keep the lung collapse from getting a lot worse.

Advanced tip: If you hear hissing or see bubbling from a chest wound, consider placing a credit card or something similar over it instead of plugging it with cloth. Click here for more on why; see the box titled “How to Make an Occlusive Dressing out of a Driver’s License.”

To expedite the arrival of expert help, onlookers should allow emergency vehicles to pass.

When first responders arrive, follow orders on how to continue to help. If nothing else, you may be able to help allow enough room for treatment and transfer.

Recap

To recap, these are the basic steps to take when someone is shot:

Ensure your safety.

Call 911.

Begin chest compressions if needed.

Stop the bleeding (look for entrance and exit wounds; use direct pressure and/or a tourniquet).

Plug gunshot holes with cloth or a tampon.

Next week I’ll post on what to do if help is not on the way at all. I’ll answer questions like, can I perform surgery? Should I get the bullet out? Subscribe below to be notified when that post is published. And for more tips on what to do in various situations when you can’t get expert help right away, check out my new book, The Survival Doctor’s Complete Handbook.

]]>http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/07/13/gunshot-wounds-treatment/feed/17http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/07/13/gunshot-wounds-treatment/Quiz: Could You Survive a Bear Mauling?http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thesurvivaldoctor/feed/~3/tBOkpFz3NEw/
http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/06/28/survive-bear-mauling-quiz/#commentsTue, 28 Jun 2016 10:00:59 +0000http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/?p=12100A few weeks ago, Kenneth Steck, of Juneau, Alaska, was charged and mauled by a brown bear in Yakutat, Alaska. In the video below, he tells his story—fortunate to be alive.

If you were in a similar situation, what would you do? Take the five-question quiz after the video and see if you could survive.

Quiz: Could You Survive a Bear Attack?

Steck was mauled when he separated from his friends, who were exploring a creek area, according to Alaska Dispatch News. His travel companions—three of whom were nurses—ended up being able to help him.

What if you’d been the one mauled and no medical professional was around? What would you have done?

Scenario: You’ve gotten yourself to a safer spot, away from the bear. You’re able to radio for help, like Steck’s travel companions were. But, like them, you have to wait a while for professional medical assistance to reach you.

1. What’s the first, most important thing to do about the wounds?

Clean out debris.

Stop the bleeding.

Close them as best you can.

Stopping the bleeding may not be as hard as you think because tears in the flesh like these tend to not bleed as much as sharp cuts. The blood vessels are damaged so badly they go into spasm, in some cases contracting so much that the bleeding is barely an ooze.

But there’s an exception: If a large artery is involved, the bleeding is likely to be bad. Arteries are deep within the body, but a bear claw or bite could definitely get to them.

2. If the blood is oozing out, what does that tell you?

The injured area will likely never clot.

The bleeding is coming from an artery, so you should use a tourniquet right away.

The bleeding is coming from a vein, so direct pressure will likely stop it.

Arteries spurt blood—depending on the size, sometimes a lot. Veins tend to ooze. Even if the oozing is profuse, direct pressure should stop the bleeding.

In our scenario, these claw wounds are large, so find something soft in your bag to wad up and cover the whole area as you apply pressure on it with your hand. The shirt you’re wearing would work fine, but if the temperature where you are is the least bit cold, I’d only use it as a last resort. Whatever you use, the cloth simply expands the area of pressure.

If you can’t stop the bleeding with pressure and you have QuikClot or Celox, this would be a great time to use it.

3. Now imagine you have to wait days for help. What’s the second thing you need to do for the wounds?

4. Same scenario: You’re waiting days for help. You have some really bad bite wounds. Do you try to close them? Why or why not?

Yes, to prevent getting more germs in them

No, because you’re likely to cause a bad infection

Maybe, depending on how big they are

Never try to close such dirty wounds. There’s no way you’re going to get bite wounds really clean, so even if you could get the skin together enough to close them, you’d just be closing up bacteria that would result in a really bad infection.

Rather, clean the wounds with water up to two or three times a day, if you have it. Cover with bandages if you have them. But even if you don’t, don’t close a dirty wound.

5. You brought no antibacterial ointment with you. What food item have studies shown makes a good subsitute?

Raw meat—the fresher the better

Powdered peanut butter

Pure honey

Pure honey has great antibacterial and healing qualities. Of course, it could attract more animals, so use common sense when deciding whether or when to risk that. If you were able to find a cabin, for example, you might be OK because you’d have protection—unless and until you needed to venture outside.

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What about you? Have you ever had a bad wound and could not get expert help? What did you do? What was the outcome?

Share This Quiz!

]]>http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/06/28/survive-bear-mauling-quiz/feed/3http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/06/28/survive-bear-mauling-quiz/Father’s Day Roundup: Posts to Help You Survive the Weekendhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thesurvivaldoctor/feed/~3/GgPNuFCbpe4/
http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/06/14/survive-fathers-day/#respondTue, 14 Jun 2016 10:00:49 +0000http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/?p=12083Happy Father’s Day (almost). Do you have outdoor plans for the weekend? I’ve culled some choice posts to help get you prepped to survive.

Before we get to that, I want to thank you for responding to my request for book reviews last week. I have the best readers ever—really. Thank you for taking time to tell others what you think of The Survival Doctor’s Complete Handbook. I’ve included some excerpts from reader reviews at the end of the post.

And now, here are some posts I suggest glancing over before the big weekend because nothing should ruin Father’s Day—especially heatstroke.

Gifting

Your Book Reviews

“This an excellent, reasonably priced, compendium of practical emergency medical information …. This is one text that I will keep close at hand and will not be loaning out.”
—T Brecht

“It has great anatomy illustrations. The information is presented in a very understandable way. … This book does not just cover basic first aid, there is also information on blood clots, heart attacks, seizures, strokes, concussion, earaches, gynecologic issues & childbirth, common children’s issues.”
—jc

I am so excited to see the new book … and, although I have several first aid books, and even one called ‘What to Do When There Is No Doctor’ (which really focuses more on medicine in far off places), I found them lacking. I have been a nurse working ER and Critical Care Units (among other areas) over a period of 46 years …. This book is quite comprehensive addressing many conditions not even mentioned in other such books. … I might add that, despite my extensive experience in managing injury and critical illness, I learned much from this new book!!”
—Lolly48

“There are thoughtful ideas for alternative natural medicines when a pharmacy is not available. The author discusses supplements and home remedies. … The drawings are easy to understand. This book is fun to read and amazing! I’m a High School Biology teacher and plan on using one of the pop quizzes about the heart with my students!”
—Bexter

“This is an excellent book to have in your Emergency Kit. The author is very knowledgeable, but the book it still VERY readable, enjoyable even with his anecdotes.”
—frye

“[In survival situations] you are going to want have access to real advice, provided by a real doctor who has treated real patients, and not some anonymous source on the internet. James Hubbard. MD is the real deal who provides some practical and easy to follow solutions to medical emergencies. His book is highly illustrated which makes it easy to follow along and understand, regardless of whether or not you have had first aid training. You will not regret adding this book to your library.”
—Gaye Levy – Backdoor Survival

“The range of topics is very thorough. This is an extremely useful book for anyone who lives in a rural area or spends time in the outdoors, especially hikers, kayakers, hunters, etc. The book is also useful for anyone living in a metropolitan area where help is just a phone call away because it teaches you things to do to mitigate damage to the body in those precious moments before help does arrive. A worthwhile book and reasonably priced.”
—BeesWax

“Lots of great information in this book !!! Easy to read and understand.”
—Rick Ruoff

“I think this is a great resource for backpack, first aid kit, or home. The instructions are easy to understand – which is important in a crisis. I bought one for our home and one for my husband to keep in his troop first aid kit.”
—creeksidek

“[I]t is very thorough.”
—imluna47

“An excellent read. Full of tips on finding supplies as well as handling many emergency situations.”
—Darlynn Fine

“Simply put, everyone needs this book. I’ve a copy on my Kindle and the book in my bug out bag … and have sent copies to loved ones as presents.”
—TX Griff

“Very interesting reading.”
—mark c.

]]>http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/06/14/survive-fathers-day/feed/0http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/06/14/survive-fathers-day/Top-10 Survival Gift Ideas for Father’s Dayhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thesurvivaldoctor/feed/~3/C67AsCmw66c/
http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/06/06/survival-gift-ideas-men/#respondTue, 07 Jun 2016 00:53:59 +0000http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/?p=12061Father’s Day is close at hand. How about getting the old man something a little different this year? Something he can use—that might even help him survive the unexpected.

Here are 10 survival gift ideas for Father’s Day that I think any man would relish. Whether Dad is a camper, fisherman, hunter, hiker, prepper, DIYer, homesteader, or even a traveling businessman, there’s something in this list for him. And I bet he doesn’t already have everything on it.

Full disclosure: Most of these links are Amazon affiliate links. But the products are simply examples, not meant as specific recommendations. Short on time? Sign up for a free trial of Amazon Prime, and you can get many of these gifts within a couple of days.

Gifts Under $20

Tourniquet

If Dad can’t pass up a good chainsaw, loves hiking where wild animals roam, or is a dedicated prepper, get him a tourniquet! Israeli bandages, such as this one, are popular because they’re pretty easy to use, and they tend to work. You can use one as a tourniquet or a compression bandage. Combat Application Tourniquets—also easy to use—are especially popular among first responders.

Goggles

I can’t count the number of times I’ve treated someone who’s had their day ruined by being in their yard, or with machinery, and getting a speck in their eye that they can’t get out. Everyone needs a good pair of goggles. This is a pretty cool-looking pair. If Dad wears glasses, consider an over-the-glasses kind.

Yaktrax or ICEtrekkers

If Dad has any winter weather at all, consider some snow/ice chains for the shoes. They can save him from a bad fall. And the beauty is, they’re small enough that he could put a pair in his pocket or briefcase and slip them on only when he needs them. There are different types of “chains” designed for different lifestyles. Yaktrax Pros and ICEtrekkers Spikes are pretty versatile. If Dad’s a hardcore winter outdoorsman, he might like the ICEtrekkers Diamond Grips. There are even STREAMtrekkers for summertime fishermen.

The Survival Doctor’s Complete Handbook

My newest book is a best seller and the perfect gift for any father. The Survival Doctor’s Complete Handbook covers a large variety of medical problems, but it’s easy to read, interesting and packed with illustrations. If Dad is an outdoorsman or traveler, consider my more compact Living Ready Pocket Manual: First Aid as a lightweight, portable guide to complement the Handbook.

LifeStraw

Hikers, campers, hunters, and fishermen will appreciate a LifeStraw for emergency water backup. If they get stranded in the woods and didn’t carry enough extra water to get them through, something like this has the potential to help save their life. A LifeStraw is a large straw with a filter inside. According to the company, the filter will remove almost all bacteria and parasites. It’s so small and light that it’s a must for backpacks and travel bags.

Sports Bottle With Water Filter

Gifts Under $100

The Survival Doctor’s Emergencies Training Course

Preppers, homesteaders, outdoorsman, DIYers, and adventure travelers love my online, video-based training course. Dad will learn learn essential first-aid techniques and much more to help him survive emergencies and help his family survive too.

What’s your favorite survival gift idea for Father’s Day? If you’re a dad, what survival gift would you really like to receive?

Note: A previous version of this post was originally published June 9, 2014.

]]>http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/06/06/survival-gift-ideas-men/feed/0http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/06/06/survival-gift-ideas-men/How to Help Your Body Acclimate to the Summer Heathttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thesurvivaldoctor/feed/~3/zHptsXSova8/
http://thesurvivaldoctor.com/2016/05/31/tips-survive-adapt-heat/#commentsTue, 31 May 2016 22:20:09 +0000http://www.thesurvivaldoctor.com/?p=11175

Last year around this time, a man in his early 20s came into the clinic who was experiencing chest pain and a headache and was just overall feeling awful.

He’d been working on a roof. He’d done this kind of work for years with no problem. But at that time, in June, we had a heat wave. All of a sudden, instead of a daytime high in the mid-70s, the temperature was hitting the low 90s. This long-time outdoor laborer’s body simply hadn’t had time to acclimate.

For as long as I’ve practiced medicine, I’ve known that every summer, in those first few hot days, I’ll be treating some otherwise healthy people for heat-related problems. Fortunately, this man got out of the heat as soon as the symptoms hit. After drinking some water and cooling off, he was feeling fine in a few hours.

Probably, a few weeks later, he was working in the same temperature with no such symptoms. Why?

He was acclimated, or acclimatized.

No matter how many years you’ve been working or living in the heat, your body has to reacclimate to it each year. So with sudden changes, such as heat waves, everybody suffers.

Another sudden change could be the electricity going out—taking the air-conditioning with it. That’s a disaster in my book. Or maybe you take a vacation to a hot spot. Any sudden change of heat—say 10 degrees Fahrenheit or more—will require time for your body to adapt.

You can help it along by taking certain steps. To understand why these steps work, though, you need to know how your body acclimates to the heat in the first place.

Heat Acclimation: How Your Body Adapts

When the weather gets hotter, your body starts to acclimate in a few ways.

Your body sweats more efficiently. Four main sweat-related changes take place:

Your body begins to produce more sweat in response to heat.

Your body starts sweating at a lower temperature.

The sweat has a lower salt concentration, so you don’t lose as much sodium.

Your metabolism decreases a little. Metabolism produces heat. Your body reduces it by putting a little more fluid into your blood. This increases the blood’s volume so that with each heartbeat, more gets pumped out. Your heart rate slows down in response, which reduces your body’s workload, decreasing your metabolism a bit.

One thing to remember, though, is your body can’t accomplish these adaptions in a split second. In fact, it takes a day or so before it even starts trying and about two weeks for the acclimation to complete. During this time, it will only know to start working on these processes if it’s exposed to a minimum of about two hours of that extra heat every day.

4 Tips to Support Your Own Heat Acclimatization

In those first few days of hot weather, you can help your body both survive and acclimate.

Gradually build up your workload. Your body produces heat of its own. (Remember that metabolism?) The more work, the more heat. So if you work outside:

Take it easy those first few days, and take frequent breaks.

Remember, it only takes a couple of hours a day of exposure for your body to know it needs to start acclimating. To help trigger it to start, it’s best to accumulate at least an hour of heat exposure at a time, but shade and rest are a good thing.

Taking advantage of air-conditioning during your breaks is encouraged.

For we who stay inside most of the time, a walk or light yard work in the coolest part of the day might start the acclimation process—or just sitting in the shade for a spell. I’ve also seen recommendations to try to keep your indoor temperature no more than about 10 degrees lower than the outside. Maybe not too practical—not to mention dangerous—if it’s 105 outside, but perhaps you could gradually turn it up a bit, at least to the low to mid-70s?

Go topless. You lose about two-thirds of your heat from the waist up. Maybe wear a loose, breathable shirt for modesty—and to prevent sunburn. The main thing here is the dilemma of using helmets. They may be essential for safety, but they also can hold in a lot of heat. So if you wear headgear, go even a little more slowly in the heat. And again, frequent breaks to take the helmet off, when your out of danger, can help a lot. Even with a hat, try one that breathes a little, or maybe just take it off and fan every once in a while.

Drink fluids. In order for your body to utilize sweat and use your circulation effectively, it must have plenty of fluids. Drink more water in the heat. (Unless you’re really working hard, you should be able to get enough electrolytes, like sodium and potassium, from your food.) Dehydration can especially fool you in dry climates. The sweat can evaporate so fast you never know you’re sweating. Yet, given the same temperature, you probably lose even more fluid in a dry climate than you do through the heavy sweat you feel and see in the humidity. One of the ways your body adapts to heat is by making you feel thirstier, but I wouldn’t count on that too much. Thirsty or not, you need to need to replace lost fluids.

Stay in shape. If you’re in good physical shape, that’s a big plus since your body doesn’t have to work as hard as one that’s not physically fit to do the same activity. And fat? Well, it’s a great insulator. It holds in heat really well. Not an ideal situation if your body is trying to cool down.

The Limits of Heat Acclimation

Anyone exposed to the heat can have a heat-related illness, but some of us just can’t acclimate as well. For babies, those of us in our 60s and older, and people who have a chronic disease or take certain medications, try as they may, our bodies may just not acclimate well. We’re at extra risk and need to take extra precautions to try to stay cool.

Have you ever been caught off-guard by the heat? How did it affect you?